This morning I read a great post by Venture Spring. Venture Spring is a hugely well respected ‘venture development’ company which “helps Fortune 500 companies innovate like startups” according to their company mantra. The article is about the differences between venture capital funding and funding from angel investors.

Startups are often all too eager to take one option over the other based on their own preconceptions. It’s important to realise that one may be more suited to one type of startup over another (and vice versa. So, understanding the points of difference could be crucial to the way in which you approach your fundraise; and how your company ends up being run down the line. So it’ll be worth your while familiarising yourself with the key points…

You can read the full article on their site here. (It’s a 5-10 min read).

Or, I’ve summarised the key differences for you here and (added in a few that they missed!):

Angel Investors:
– are private individuals investing their own money
– can make quick decisions regarding investment
– can be flexible in the amount they invest
– can provide expertise, contacts and support as well as capital
– can feel personally attached to your business
– can be as hands-off or hands-on as you require
– can qualify for tax breaks like SEIS and EIS
– do not have to be given board positions

Venture Capital Firms:
– are whole companies that invest in startups
– are run by professional investors investing money from corporations, individuals, funds and foundations
– take board positions and have a strong say in how the company is managed and grown going forward
– invest much larger amounts than angel investors
– do not usually invest at seed stage
– generally invest not less than £1million
– take a longer time to make investment decisions and broker deals

What’s your take on the issue? Do you have any experiences you’d like to share? Comment below or hit me up on Twitter…

PrivCo has released its 2014 Private Tech Company M&A Research Report. The report included a Top 10 Ranking for private tech acquisitions, with Silicon Valley ranking as the #1 metro area with 281 private tech company acquisitions in 2013. Ranked just behind it were New York (Ranked #2) & San Diego (Ranked #3). Interestingly, up-and-coming tech hubs like Chicago, Austin, and Atlanta are challenging traditional leaders like Boston, which fell to the ninth spot on this years report, despite being Ranked #3 in last year’s Top 10 U.S. Cities For Private Tech M&A.

In the first quarter of 2014, software companies also received three times the number of deals of the next closest industry category, Media & Entertainment. 46% or 126 software deals were completed in Q1, compared to 40 in Media & Entertainment. Biotechnology companies were third with 8% or 22 deals. The following graphic provides a comparison of deals by industry for Q1, 2014.

Here is the list of the top 25 most active corporate VCs since the start of 2012:

Interestingly the top 10 most active investors participated in more than 40% of the VC deals during this period. Google Ventures and Intel Capital combined to participate in more than 1/5 of all corporate venture capital deals, which is pretty staggering.